Norvic Philatelics - stamps of
GB Scout Posts

Lord Baden Powell, Founder Chief
Scout 1908-1941

GB: Christmas postal delivery by
Scouts and other charitable groups

Although Royal Mail had a monopoly on
the delivery of mail for most of the year, from 1981 charities -
principally Scouts, Guides and Church Groups - have been permitted to
arrange the collection and distribution of greetings cards each year
for a limited period before Christmas. While some rely simply on a
rubber stamp to denote payment, many produce one or more stamps. The
bigger the operation, the more 'professional' the stamp design and
production of the stamps. While some places use the same (unvalued)
design over a period of years, the most advanced produce a set of 5 or
more multicoloured stamps in different thematic designs each year.

Sheffield Scouts Post

Following the change in the law in
1981 members of the Woodseats
Venture Unit (WVU), at the time
without a meeting place, decided that a Christmas Postal Service would
be a good way of raising some money. They advertised to deliver in just
the 'South Sheffield' area and set up all the relevant collection
points. Through sheer determination and will power 11,000
cards were sorted in one
leader's house before being delivered at an average rate of two cards
per street.

In the following years more and more
Sheffield groups joined the scheme meaning a wider area for delivery
and more cards in the system. In 1985 the scheme took in such areas as
Stocksbridge and Chapeltown, while in 1991, an agreement with the
Chesterfield scheme enabled the area involved to extend further. The
numbers of cards increased year on year until it reached a peak in
1989, the year of the threatened postal strike. Since then there has
been a gradual decline in the number of cards passing through the
system.

Sheffield has by far the largest and
most sophisticated scheme in Britain. Many of the other Scout Post
services, operating in areas such as Derby, Sutton Coldfield and the
Wirrall, have based their system on Sheffield. Even Scout groups in
other countries have contacted Sheffield for advice.

These
paragraphs have been condensed from 'Scout Post - Sorted' by Matt
Richards on http://www.btinternet.com/~the.hedgehog/articles/sorted.htm
from whom I would have sought permission if I had found a way to
contact him directly - so if you read this, Matt, please get in touch!
That website has now withered away from the BT servers; another one
with good information on these and other Scout Posts is John Crabbe's.

Sheffield's 20th Year

This press release was produced by the
Sheffield Scout Post for 2000:

Sheffield
Scout Post will function from the 29th November 2000, for the 20th
year.
An area 35 miles long by 10 miles wide (55 x 16km), serving an
estimated 1,000,000 population, has seen the delivery of over 750,000
cards per annum in recent years.
Charitable Donations (outside the Scout Movement which it helps
finance), exceed £150,000 to-date.
Five stamps, Se-tenant, representing The Three Kings, The Shepherds,
The Stable, The Star of Bethlehem, and The Angel Gabriel have been
produced for Christmas 2000. Printed in five colours, predominantly in
blue and yellow, they are 15p each and First Day Covers are
£1.50p. When ordering please add a donation to cover postage
and packing.
To obtain these stamps and covers and further information please email Greg
Spring.

From my collection of Scout Post Stamps

I have nothing from 1981, the first
year of operations, and I have found no information about any stamps or
markings used in that year.

First Day Cover produced for the
second year of operation, 1982, with 10p stamps showing five views of
Sheffield City Centre: The Crucible Theatre, The Town Hall, The
Cathedral, The City Hall, and Fargate.

Selection of Sheffield stamps
1984-199X

In 1982 the Sheffield stamps were cancelled by a two-line handstamp
reading DEIVERED BY SCOUTS /
MERRY CHRISTMAS 1982.

From 1984 (or possibly 1983) Scout
Groups used circular numbered handstamps inscribed SHEFFIELD
SCOUTS at the top, with the
year at the foot. The Year was included until 1990 (the 10th year), but
was not included on the postmarks in later years. Some Scout Groups
also apply an additional rubber stamp to the front (or occasionally the
reverse) of the envelope showing the identity of the group or unit (see
1986 picture below).

The Press release quoted above
indicates just how big the Sheffield Scout Post has become in 20 years,
but as early as 1985 so many cards with Scout stamps were being placed
in the Royal Mail postal system that the Sheffield Post Office found it
necessary to obtain a rubber stamp to redirect them back to the Scout
Movement:

The letter was addressed to no.142
Club Garden Road, but this was wrong. The resident of no.142 did not
know the correct address - and we must assume that they did not know
how to contact the Scout Post system - so they returned the letter to
the only system they new, the Royal Mail system.
The handstamp reads:

ITEM
FOUND IN OFFICIAL
POSTAL SYSTEM AND
RETURNED TO SCOUT
MOVEMENT FOR DELIVERY

This
mark is from one of the many Scout Groups & Venture Scout Units
which marked the items that they processed. Most are ordinary
straight-line or two-line unboxed marks, but a few are circular or
illustrated; most are in black or blue-black, but occasional marks are
seen in blue or red.

The 1
9 8 7
stamps depict butterflies, four of the stamps are shown here:
the Peacock, a pair of Tortoiseshells, a Red Admiral and a Copper.

For the 1
9 8 8
'Mitchell', the designer, moved away from nature to more traditional
Christmas subjects:

Traditional Christmas Carols
were used for the 1 9 8 9
designs, and a change from the framed design to one which incorporated
the opening lines of the carols, and the opening bars of the music -
though not always the matching full opening words:

I saw three ships come
sailing in ...

Good King Wenceslas
looked out

While shepherds watched
their flocks...

We three kings of
orient are...

Away in a manger, no
crib for a bed...

1 9 9 0 was the 10th year of Sheffield
Scout Post operations, and a single commemorative stamp was produced
showing the hedgehog symbol of the
Woodseats Venture Unit .
This was the first stamp to have the inscription Sheffield
Scout Christmas Post, and the
price was increased for the first time, to 13p. The Royal Mail price
for 2nd class post was by now 17p, having been increased from 15p in
1989. 1990 appears to be the last year in which new postmarks were made
showing the year, all subsequent ones being blank at the foot (see 1991
below).

The Anglo-Soviet
space mission was the subject
of the 1 9 9 1 13p stamps, which showed the
Mission Badge, British Astronaut
Helen Sharman,
a Soyuz Rocket, the Mir Space
Station, and the Return
Capsule

For 1 9 9 2 there was a reversion to
traditional Christmas subjects, this time traditional toys, with the
growing obsession in Britain and around the world with teddy-bears
resulting in one of these furry creatures being shown on every stamp,
along with all the other toys.